The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Oil breather cap - clean or replace?

Why is my oil breather cap spilling oil on to my valve cover?

Does it need cleaning and if so how? Or should I replace it? Also, when I stop the engine, vapor comes out of the oil breather cap. How much is normal?

The cap looks to be in good shape. This is on a 1960, 235 six. The engine runs great otherwise.

Thanks.

the lack of a PCV setup allows worn engines to put a bit of interior fuming out the breather, and the vapor when you shut it off is just hot, moist air rising .... if there's whiteish/brown crude built up on the inside of the cap and around it's spot in the cover, yer running the engine too cold, or "short tripping", and that will plug the filter material some ... not much to be done really, but you could clean the cap by sloshing it out with solvent ... and you could move to a warmer, drier climate

Bill

Thanks for the info.

I will try some kersone as solvent to clean the cap. I believe that's what was used back then wasn't it?

Thanks again.

Jeff ( Iron Clad )

Funny, my 61 does the exact same thing. She puffs a little cloud of smoke from the brather cap when I shut her down. I just assumed it was normal for a 45 year old truck to do this. It might need a new breather cap, but whats the point in changing it when it will just fill up again with oil. Anyways, it made me laugh to hear about someone with the same quirky motor thing.

Ja mine does the same. Was concerned but it is normal it seems. Ive got a new cap and it still smokes after a shutdown, but does not get clogged. The fumes smell of hot oil so I presume my engine is a bit long in the tooth!

I'm running a 350sbc but under my oil breather cap, in the valve cover, there's a 1-inch strip of steel that blocks most of the hole. It's a bit of a pain when I'm putting oil in; I have to go slow ... but they say it's there to keep oil from pumping out.